Kate's birthday

I am not going straight from the first day of school to Halloween to Kate's birthday because it has been an uneventful fall; in reality, the fall has been our busiest one yet with everyone's growing schedules so I rarely stop to take pictures and write things down. Football season kept us in Oxford quite a bit, and with both Lindsey and Benton playing soccer we spent at least two nights each week at the fields. Lindsey also took tennis lessons and won her league! Wednesdays were our only down night, but I taught the second grade class at church and Benton started the Bible black belt program as well (he moved upstairs at church this fall--only one child left in the nursery area now). But back to Kate's birthday...It's always hard (I say always, knowing she is only three) to plan a party so close to Christmas. Two weeks before her actual birthday was the St. Jude half marathon (which I was supposed to run, but it was cancelled due to an ice storm), so we had her party the week before her actual birthday (not wanting to wait until Christmas weekend, her actual birthday). She was definitely confused by her party vs her real birthday, and throwing in celebrations for Jesus's birthday really threw her off. Regardless, we planned a cookie decorating party at church. It was low key--the kids came, decorated, ate lots of sweets, then left. Short and sweet and perfect for Kate. On her actual birthday, she had one request==Orange Leaf ice cream. That girl loves Orange Leaf as much as her dad loves Ole Miss winning and Mississippi State losing. Everyone should experience once in life the event that is driving Kate to Orange Leaf. She resembles Shelby when we used to take her to my parents' house (before we had kids and started leaving Shelby home alone). She starts screaming and bouncing and pointing as soon as the store comes in view. So she's three now. Our baby is not a baby. She adores "Minsey," her big sister, and Benton, too. She moved to a big girl bed about a month ago and had no problem with the transition from the crib. She also potty trained about two months ago and was the quickest learner out of our kids. She is spunky and has a feisty attitude but definitely keeps us laughing all the time.